Follow Us

More

The Gifted Includes a Cameo by X-Men Writer Chris Claremont

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers for "Monsters," the latest episode of The Gifted.

The most recent episode of Fox's The Gifted, titled "Monsters," dealt with the ramifications of the series' own version of Marvel's "Mutant Massacre" storyline. Fittingly, the episode features a cameo from the writer behind "Mutant Massacre", legendary X-Men scribe Chris Claremont.

Following the assault on the Morlocks' underground settlement which resulted in the apparent death of Blink, the Purifiers' Jace Turner finds himself conflicted regarding his actions. During this inner struggle, Jace stumbles upon an online video of a conspiracy theorist explaining why he believes that the Morlocks are both real and a threat. This conspiracy theorist is portrayed by none other than Claremont himself.

Claremont is largely considered to be one of the single-most defining and influential contributors to the X-Men's rich history, second only to series creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Following the relaunch of Marvel Comics' main X-Men series in 1975, Claremont -- alongside collaborators like John Byrne -- would become the book's guiding voice for 17 years, during which time he co-created such iconic mutants as Rogue, Gambit, Emma Frost, Mystique, Jubilee, Mister Sinister, Sabretooth and Psylocke, just to name a few.

In addition to the aforementioned "Mutant Massacre," Claremont also wrote such pivotal X-Men stories as "Days of Future Past," "Dark Phoenix Saga" and "God Loves, Man Kills," all of which have since received the Hollywood treatment. Additionally, he was behind such X-Men spinoffs as Excalibur and The New Mutants.